Pretty
by Won'tSayI'mInLove
Summary: When you stick a Pretty Bubblehead, several Specials, Cloud's sword, and several teenage girls together for a few months, you're bound to get a little trouble. KHxFinalFantasyxUglies
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to the sequel to "Nobody Told Me"! The song is "Only in The Movies" by Diffuser. Not mine. The characters, except for Kiah, Ariana, Shay, and Tally, belong to TheKeysUnlocked. Kiah and Ariana are my OC's, and Shay and Tally are a part of the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I do own them! Well, Ari and Kiah, anyway. Come to think of it, I own Shay and Tally too…in the same way I own a patent on microwave popcorn. In other words, I don't. ANYWAY…Enjoy, everyone! R & R! (you know you want to…) Free cookies in the review room…fresh baked this morning! They have white chocolate chips in them…and they're sugar cookies. –cookie smells come from your computer- seeeeeeee? Yum.**

**BTW, NBB, I'm posting the sequel, AND you get free cookies! No more death threats for now, right?! (STOP LAUGHING AT ME!)**

Kaede stood in front of her mirror, staring at herself. She'd just received the fourth invitation to be a Pretty since she'd come back from Soul Kingdom. Cloud was still there. She was here.

Couldn't Pretties have anything they wanted?

_She's burning out on apathy,  
__unsure of where she wants to be.  
If she could change the world  
__I think she'd rather sleep._

She stared into her eyes, wondering what they'd look like if she got the Pretty surge. Probably one of the newer colors: mint green, glowing gold, or pale pink. Or maybe she'd end up with the newest thing: eyes that flashed between green, blue, gray, and black. They had permanent gold flecks, too. Yes, that was it. She was certain she'd end up with the flashing eyes. She sighed wistfully. They would be _so_ cool.

_Move to a lower east side dorm,  
__she's got no friends to call her own.  
Still can't get used to living  
__far away from home._

Kaede sighed again. Should she become a Pretty? Pretties could have whatever they wanted, but she had good friends now and besides, Extras did whatever they wanted. She flopped herself onto her bed. She buried herself in the pillow. She still kept expecting the softness of her pillow at the hotel in the Rusty town, or the slightly scratchiness of her Smart Matter pillow at the cave in Soul Kingdom. Not the soft puff that was her pillow in her dorm. She knew deep down that Soul Kingdom was her home. Not this dorm. Kaede had heard that the Pretty dorms were made of Smart Matter. She could change it into whatever she wanted. If she became a Pretty, she could make her room like the cave back in Soul Kingdom. What did she have to lose?

_So bored to death of being bored,  
__ambition seems to go ignored.  
Her disposition is  
__decaying at the core._

Kaede sat up sharply. Someone was knocking on her door. She twisted her interface ring and said, "Enter."

The door opened. Yuki walked in. Immediately she spotted the glittering gold envelope on Kaede's dresser, right next to the other three.

"Another one?" Yuki said, gesturing at the envelopes.

"Yup," Kaede mumbled.

"Hey, why are you all depressive-o?" Yuki shook her brown hair away from her face. "That's no good."

"Someone explain why not?" Kaede demanded, face still buried in the pillow.

"Because-," Yuki started.

"SURPRISE!" Ariana, Chiho, Akako, Shay, and Tally sprung out of random spots in her room, their sneak suits jittering from the sudden movement.

"Hey, what gives?" Chiho demanded when she saw Kaede start to cry.

"I have the best friends in the world," Kaede whispered. "And I might leave them."

"What? No." Chiho stepped forward. "No, no, no. You aren't going to be a Pretty, are you? Because Pretties are a one-minded, uniform, totally bogus group of followers. Seriously."

"But…" Kaede pouted as she lifted her head from the pillow.

_All the things are good and some are bad.  
It's really what you make of it._

"Kaede," Shay said firmly. "We came here to do the whole cutesy surprise party, and now you're going all Doctor Phil on us?"

"Who is Doctor Phil?" Akako cut in.

"Some Rusty therapist. He was majorly famous." Shay rolled her eyes. "Doesn't matter. Point is, Kaede-wa, you're staying here. You don't need to be a mindless Pretty. Really. Tally-wa here learned all the surge techniques. If you want the flashing eyes, tell Tally. You can have the eyes, the flawlessness, _and _a brain. Just do NOT go all bubblehead on us."

"But…"

"Kae-kae," Chiho said, putting on her best "cute" voice. "Don't leave us, Kae-kae! Being a Pretty is for brainless people! Besides, they're totally serious-missing."

"They've sent me sixteen invitations over the past two years." Kaede rolled over and propped herself up on the bed's headboard. "I think they're serious."

"Wow." Tally crossed the room, her black eyes glittering like a predator's. Her flash tattoos spun wildly. "How nice of you to get a choice on your Pretty-dom. Too bad Pretty-dom is more like Pretty-_doom_."

Kaede smiled softly. "That's what we called it, too," she whispered. Tears still streamed from her face.

"Kaede?" Ariana stepped forward. "Think what you're trading in here. Us, for brainless clones. Your brain, for a new lunch table. Mag-lev train surfing, for a party. Cloud-kun, for a genetically perfect prep guy clone."

Kaede's eyes widened. "I couldn't have Cloud after the Pretty surge?"

"Think about it. Cloud-kun, with the very face of preppiness? The very _high-maintenance_ face of preppiness? Do you see that working? Honestly." Ariana shook her head in disgust at the picture. Cloud and _pinkness_ just did not work.

_In time you will learn to  
__stand upon your feet._

"Pretties can have _anything_ they _want_," Kaede said stubbornly. "And you all _know_ what I want."

_Knee deep in disillusion  
__of the mental state._

"Extras can _do_ anything they want," Akako jumped in. She thought of mag-lev surfing and sighed wistfully.

Kaede squealed. "Akky-chan, that's just wrong," she said crossly.

"What?" Akako tipped her head to the side, openly confused. Everyone else snickered behind their hands. Then Akako's eyes got huge. "KAEDE! That is _not _what I meant!"

_Cause only in the movies can you  
__replay every scene  
until it comes out clean._

The room filled with a loud chorus of "ewwww"-s and "that's just not right"-s. Tally and Shay looked at each other and rolled their eyes as the others cracked up. Tally mouthed, "Mature, huh?" at Shay, who cracked a smile.

"Okay," Shay interrupted. "Before we're all totally barfing here, let's censor ourselves, yes?"

"Fine," Kaede mumbled, struggling to hold back her laughter.

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!" Yuki said, saluting her like a Rusty soldier. Kaede's laughter bubbled over.

And suddenly she realized. This was what she had to lose.

_All things are good  
__and some are bad.  
It's really what you make of it.  
You're locked inside a world  
__that's planned out  
__just for you._

**A/N: well, here ya go. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember, free sugar cookies with white chocolate chips in them in the review room! Remember the yumminess…if you don't like chocolate you'd better tell me. And cookie flavor requests can be out at the bottom of reviews, if you want. I'll work on that.**

**XOXO,**

**MH-chan**_  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OMG, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! My internet died, and it turns out my documents folder went with it. ) So, this is my sad recreation of the old Chapter 2. (I really have to get a better computer…)**

**BTW-NBB, I read chap 10 of Sugary Sweet Jealousy (hence the review). I have a question about your author's note. Is writer's block contagious? I've had it too, and the same thing happened to me! That, and the whole OMFG-my-comp-fried-itself thing described above…**

**This chapter's cookie flavor (in the review room) is cinnamon/sugar gingerbread. Spice-ifalicious! Trust me, its really good.**

I sat up, blinking in the darkness. I could see light trying to fight its way through Kaede's thick curtains. I got up, stepping over Chiho and Akako, and opened the curtains.

The bright sunlight flooded the room in a warm glow, making me smile. Our Smart Matter sleeping bags were on the floor, and I could tell the others were still in theirs. I was the only one awake.

"Hey, close those!" Chiho cried, curling into a tiny ball.

Akako squinted her eyes, and Yuki buried herself further under her sleeping bag. Kaede rubbed an eye and grumbled something at me.

"What?" I asked her.

"CLOSE THE CURTAINS," Kaede howled at me.

"Good morning to you too," I said, rolling my eyes. I closed them, though.

"Your welcome," I said, staring at them.

Chiho burrowed further into her sleeping bag.

Kaede mumbled something and pulled her blanket over her head.

"Oh, hi, Cloud," I said.

Kaede shot up. Once she realized he wasn't there, she flopped back down. "That was mean," she mumbled, her voice muffled by the thick layers of blankets over her head.

"Remember who you're talking to," Chiho reminded her.

"Why?" Kaede scrunched her nose. "Its just Ari-wa."

"Yeah, but Ari-wa is practically the poster child for mean-ness." The little lump that was Chiho started to shake with suppressed laughter.

I rolled my eyes, walked over, and began nudging her with my foot. "Chi-wa! Wake up! Chi-wa! Wake up! Chi-wa! Wake up! Chi-wa! Wake up! Chi-wa! Wake up! Chi-wa! _Wake up_!" I chanted, nudging her over and over again.

Her hand shot out of the sleeping bag and grabbed my foot. "Stop," she said, her voice low and growly.

I jumped back. "Jeez, Chi," I said, managing to make myself sound playful. "I didn't know you were part vicious guard dog."

"Ha, ha," She said, her hand drawing itself back into the sleeping bag like a half-dead monster retreating to its cave.

Someone knocked on the door. I sighed. "Kae-kae, that's your cue."

She lifted one hand out of the covers and snapped. The door unlocked itself and a young boy opened it.

"Oh, uh, hi," he said, somewhat embarrassed to find five teenage girls still curled into their sleeping bags and in their pajamas. "I, uh, have something for, uh, Katie? It's a letter, uh, not a ping, so it must, uh, be important?"

"It's pronounced Kaede," I told him, taking yet another shiny gold envelope from his hands. "That's her." I pointed at the lump on Kaede's bed.

"Oh," he said, eyes wide. "Well, uh, I guess I'll, uh, go?"

"Yes," I told him, closing the door in his face. In the corner of my eye, I could see my merits going down. _Damn_.

I groaned softly. "Kae-kae, you got another one."

Kaede barely moved. "Great."

I ripped it open, pulling out the thick Rusty-style card and read aloud.

"The Pretties of Japan would like to formally invite Kaede to join them next week on Sunday, June 22nd, 6666. We look forward to seeing you at The Hospital for Pretty Surge!"

Kaede groaned. "If I went peacefully, do you think they'd shut up?"

"Peacefully? As opposed to…non-peacefully?" Akako sat up, rubbed her eyes sleepily, then flinched. We'd gotten surge from Tally to make us look like the Soul Kingdom-versions of ourselves. But Akako's skin still had the horrible sun burn-feeling from getting her flash tattoos.

"I guess," Kaede shrugged. There was a pause. "Wait…is non-peacefully even a word?"

We shrugged.

"Hey, Room?" Kaede tilted her head back, propping herself up on her elbows. "Is non-peacefully a word?"

"Yes, Kaede-sensei. It is."

"Okay. Thanks, Room." Kaede flopped back down. "There's your answer."

"Great…" I looked around the room, noticing pictures of Cloud taped to the walls. Big, huge posters…taped to the walls. "Kaede?"

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't your posters part of the interface? Did you buy posters back in Rustyville?" I sat down in the spinning desk chair she'd gotten with her newest merits (the sacred Feed-watching Chair!) and spun around to face her bed. Glaring at her, I crossed my legs and put my head on my hand, secretly dropping the invitation in the Recycling Hole as I did so.

"Uhhh…"

"KAEDE!" Chiho shot up, her sleeping bag covering her head still. She whipped away the layers of fabric and stared at her friend. "Those posters are made of PAPER!"

"And you're an idiot!" Akako snapped. "Now that we've covered the obvious, can we get to the point?"

Glaring at Akako, Chiho continued, "Paper is made from trees. Trees that almost went extinct. You're supporting deforestation!"

"And that is…"

"Deforestation is where you take away all the pretty trees and expand the city! Its what Rusties did that almost killed THE WORLD!"

"And…"

"And by having those on your walls, you're SUPPORTING IT!!!" Chiho's eyes were wide. "That's not very happy-making."

"But…"

"But what?!" Chiho wailed.

"But…it's _Cloud_…"

"And…?" It was Chiho's turn to be confused, although she also looked indignant.

"And…Cloud…" Kaede paused, thinking of the right words. "…is _pretty_," she decided.

I cracked up. "_Pretty_? Kaede, of all words to describe Cloud, you chose _pretty_?"

"Yes." Kaede stuck her chin up like a third-grader trying to act tough. "I did."

In the back of her head, Kaede could just see a little number. It wasn't part of her interface. It was part…of her brain. The little numbers were in green block numbers, rather like the ones she found on her alarm clock back at the rusty hotel. What was it? Her fame? Merits? A ping?

Then she realized. It was the countdown to how many invitations she had received, in how many days. Like a doomsday counter.

She also realized something else. If you took the date of her supposed Pretty Surge, and subtracted the number of invitations she'd received, you ended up with the most awkward Rusty day of them all:

The sixth month…the sixth day…year 6666…the sixth day of the week…

6/6/6666. Which fell on the sixth day of the week. Talk about Doomsday.

**A/N: Sorry for the semi-pointless chap…I'm not NBB, I can't whip out great stuff when I've got writer's block. I just love the day of Kaede's Pretty Surge…I actually didn't do that on purpose. I just kind of was like, "OH! This works!"**

**Oh, another lame fact about my life: I'm listening to "Who Said?" by Hannah Montana. Just a second ago, I was listening to Kelly Clarkson railing against her ex in "Never Again" and now, suddenly, I'm listening to the queen of fruity Disney music? How did _that_ happen?**

**Anyway. Review! Remember the cookies!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow, I'm finally updating! NBB, are you off your review strike now? Thanks for the idea, too. I'm using…well, actually, read the chap to find out! The pretty blue review button helps me, too.**

**BTW- this is 2 weeks later, in the story.**

**I wanted to do a songfic, so here. The song is "Take Me Back Home" by I-don't-know, but it was in Stuck in the Suburbs. Hello, they had the best music in that movie! Anyway, FYI, Redemption Day is basically the end of the world, when everything goes boom! Just so you know.**

I sat up, sighing softly, and realized I was in some sort of forest. What the…

Sora was looking at me. "Ariana?"

I sat up. "Sora!"

He smiled, and his teeth gleamed in the light. "Ariana."

I smiled at him, softly. "Hi. Where am I?"

"Come here, Ariana," he said, smiling.

I was starting to, but suddenly I saw it: his teeth. They were not only gleaming, but they were pointed and…sharp. Oh.

"Come on, Ariana," he soothed.

"No," I said, my voice shaking. "Why?"

"Come here," he repeated.

"But…I don't want to," I finally said.

"Oh, sure you do," he said, and he took a step closer.

Vines came towards me, and they wrapped around my hands. Sora's face was changing now, becoming inhumanly beautiful. His teeth grew to be sharp and gleaming, and two of them extended.

Fangs.

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I shot up in my bed, screaming. I looked at myself, and saw that I was bruised and bleeding. I felt moisture on my face, and touched my head. Quickly, I realized I was bleeding from above my eyebrow. It hurt. A lot.

_I'm reaching deeper  
down inside of me  
for answers to  
the questions of honesty._

"Owww, what the heck?" I scowled and tumbled out of bed, grabbing my forehead. When I turned on the light (and my eyes adjusted), I almost cried. "What the HECK?" I screamed again.

Blood soaked my hair, trickled down my forehead, and drenched my white t-shirt. Ugly bruises covered me, bluish-purple against my skin.

_I feel like I've fallen from a state of grace.  
I know that I can't run from my mistakes._

I scowled, running into my bathroom to get a cloth. I soaked it in water and begged the hole in the wall to spit out some med spray. When it did, I closed my eyes and aimed it at my face. The spray stung for a moment before the nanos started working, and I flinched.

Changing my shirt, I glanced at the book I'd been reading. _Twilight_, a Rusty-time book I'd picked up during our stay in Tokyo. My wallscreen was playing _Blue Bloods_, another Rusty-time book that was getting way popular now. It was a huge deal, and a lot of people were surging themselves to have fangs, Chiho and myself included.

_Where do you go when you've gone too far?  
You open up your arms._

"Wow," I said out loud, studying the wallscreen, then the book. "I've gotta stop with the vampire stuff."

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**Kaede's POV**

I sat up screaming. What the heck? Why…I stared at my Cloud poster, sighing softly.

_I want to believe that love has the heart to  
take me home.  
__Take me back…_

"What do I do, Cloud-kun?" I asked the poster.

Music filled my ears. "Great, now I'm going insane?" I groaned.

Then I realized it was my new doorbell. Modeled after Rusty doorbells, they had the same idea but they played through my wallscreen.

I snapped my fingers and they door flew open. "Kaede!"

I shot up. "Ari!"

"And these losers, too," Ariana said, stepping forward. Yuki, Akako, and Chiho stepped in.

"I'm not a loser," Chiho protested.

"Yeah," Ariana agreed. "Okay, me, Chiho, and these two losers."

Yuki and Akako scowled.

"Whatever," Yuki said, obviously still asleep. "At least I'm not being stalked by the Pretties."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" I asked, my voice low and threatening.

"Nothing," Ariana said quickly.

"It means nothing," Chiho agreed.

"Just mumbling," Akako agreed. "She's still asleep, you know."

"No, it meant something, or she wouldn't said it," I said, eyes locked on Yuki's sleepy ones. "So, I want to know what."

"It means, you must be a true bubblehead or else the Pretties wouldn't want you," Yuki mumbled, still half-asleep. "They hate anyone who has a brain."

"You're right," I muttered.

"She is?" Ariana and Chiho squealed. "No, she's not!"

"I must be stupid," I continued. "Or else I wouldn't be hanging out with _you_!"

And with those words, I got up and stormed out of the room.

_Forgiveness, that's all I needed from you.  
Only you can pull me through.  
I'm fighting._

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**Ariana's POV**

I burst into Kaede's room, squealing, "Kaede!"

"And these losers, too," I added, gesturing towards Yuki, Akako, and Chiho, mock-dismissively.

We had a brief argument over who was the loser in the group, but the playful chatter soon turned to screaming between Kaede and Yuki.

"SHUT UP," someone screamed through the wall, and something hit the wall, making a loud THUD that nobody besides Chiho or me noticed. We glanced at each other and tried not to laugh.

"Well, maybe I should just go be a Pretty!" Kaede screamed through the closing door.

_I'm fighting._

I groaned. "Yuki, what the heck?"

I looked at her. Yuki's eyes were open now, although clouded with confusion. Her head was tipped to the side.

_Where do you go  
when the lights have consumed you?  
So thick you can hardly move through._

"What just happened?" she asked.

"You just drove Kaede onto being a PRETTY!" we screamed at her.

"Nice timing," Chiho mumbled.

"What? How? I was totally asleep!" Yuki was protesting. "I mean, I _sorta_ remember talking, but I don't know _what_ I said."

"You dork!" I squealed. "So, Kaede just went for Pretty-doom because Yuki was _sleep talking_?"

_Where do you go  
when you don't recognize your face?  
__And you pray for Redemption Day?_

At that moment Kaede stormed back in, and for a second I thought she'd heard.

But she just walked right past us and into her closet, before pulling out a pair of shoes, jamming them on her feet, and muttering, "Some friends."

She slammed the door on the way out.

_I know that I can't run from my mistakes._

Seconds later, Kaede stormed back in and grabbed her backpack. "Damn it!"

Then she left again.

_So where do you go when you've gone too far?  
You open up your arms.  
I want to believe that love has the heart to  
take me back home._

"Dramatic exit ruined," Chiho announced, laughing.

But the room was silent. Because the rest of us, with our city-standard hearing, could hear Kaede's final threat, where Chiho's unsurged ears could not.

"_I'll show them_. We Pretties can do _anything_ we want."

And there were just two words that scared me in that threat:

"_We Pretties..._"

_I want to believe that love has the heart to_  
_take me back.  
Take me home…_

**A/N: -dramatic music- Okay, you all know what's coming next, don't you? Hello, read the summary. Know what the story is about.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well, here ya go! 4****th**** chappy. NBB, don't go back to writing ur own chaps cuz then u might start talking to urself more than u talk 2 us… 0.0 Anyway, R & R, and enjoy! Reviewers get a huge cookie in whatever flavor they ask for… -chibi smile-**

**Yuki's POV**

I frowned in irritation. It had been weeks since we'd seen Kaede, and the newest batch of Pretties had come and gone. I was sure I hadn't seen Kaede among them, but I could tell they were starting to doubt me. Maybe I'd missed her, in the flood of beautiful new faces? No, that wasn't possible. Kaede's words had to have been an empty threat. Right? She would never…

"HEEEEY!" Ariana shouted in my ear. "EARTH TO YUKI!"

"Owww!" I scowled and rubbed my ear. "What?"

"I said, 'We're going on a Kaede hunt and you've been signed up!'" Ariana stomped her foot, glaring at me.

"Right. Would I have the option not to be signed up?" I stared at them, trying not to laugh. They wore all black, and everyone had their hair slicked back into ponytails. Chiho had put her long hair into pigtails, making her look cuter than ever. There were tiny bells on each side, although they made no noise at all. Probably more of Kaede's magic.

"No," Chiho piped up. "That's awful. She's supposedly our best friend, re-_mem-_ber?"

"Yeah. Duh." I sighed. "But wouldn't sneak suits be so much…oh." As I spoke, the soft fabric of their clothes turned to the scales of sneak suits. "Oh," I said again.

Chiho set hers back to the clothes. "So much more…suspicious?" she said, laughing. "This way, we look like harmless old Extras. But only we know better, huh?"

I noticed the tiny key charm hanging from her wrist. "Is that…"

"Yup. My keyblade rules." She laughed.

"Only 'cause Kaede put the spell on our keyblades to make them do that!" Akako piped up. "Otherwise, they'd still be HUUUUUUGE!"

Chiho held up her palm, inches from Akako's face. "Don't _ruin_ the _happy_."

We cracked up. Akako was twice as tall as Chiho, but Chiho had her cowering on the ground. (**A/N: And that's the power of the chibi! Ha, ha.**)

"We should get going," Ariana announced, her eyes scanning the dark sky.

"Yeah, guess so," Chiho said, chucking the stool she'd used to be eye level with Akako over her shoulder carelessly. It smacked into a wall, making us giggle.

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**Ariana's POV**

"Hey, hey! Where are you little ladies going?" A warden pulled up next to us in his hover car, shining a hoverlight at us. "And so late at night!"

I cussed inwardly, and Yuki looked like she'd swallowed a fly. Akako's eyes were huge, but Chiho had on her best chibified expression.

"Oh, mister, I'm sorry," she said in her cutest voice. "I asked them if they'd take me to go see my friend. She recently turned, and I miss my bestest friend…" Chiho's eyes grew big and tear-filled. "I'm so sorry…"

The warden settled back in his seat. "Okay, okay, miss. It's all right…"

Chiho stared up at him, hands curled into tiny balls. One hand was in front of her mouth, and the other arm was held straight down, finishing the classic "Crying Chibi" image. Her eyes were still huge. "No, I'm sorry," she whimpered.

He seemed to soften. "All right, miss. You can go with your friends."

Instantly, her fake tears disappeared. She brightened. "Really, mister? That's awfully nice of you…"

"No problem, miss. But next time, go over earlier. Surely it's hard to see in the dark?" The warden smiled at her, calmly.

"Oh, no sir. My friends are all surged so they have super-duper vision! But I hafta wait until Mommy and Daddy say I'm allowed to," Chiho nodded, her long pigtails swishing. The tiny bells in her hair jingled, which made her even cuter.

"Okay. Well, you girls be safe," the warden said, and he left.

"Wow." Yuki stared at Chiho. "Are you human?"

"No," Chiho said, laughing. "I'm chibi."

"That much I know," Akako said. "But that was SO cuuute!"

"Amazing!" I agreed, hugging her. "God, you are SO ADORABLE!"

"Uh, guys?" Chiho squeaked. We were all hugging her now, and I could tell she was squirming, trying to get out. "Helloooo? Kinda can't breathe here? Hellllllllloooooooo?"

We let go of her, laughing. "Sorry," we said, at slightly different times.

"So, Chiho?" I looked at my friend. "What's with the bells?" I flicked one, and sure enough it didn't jingle anymore.

"Oh, you noticed? They only jingle when I want them to. It's an advanced spell Kaede was learning, so I offered the bells for her to practice with, and it worked. So, I have magical hair accessories!" Chiho laughed.

"Oh. Cool," I said, flicking them again.

"They also change color," Chiho added, smiling. "See?" The bells were purple now.

"I like black," I told her. "So much more Sly Girl-worthy."

"Ohhh. That's right. We're Sly Girls, huh?" Akako touched the tiny keyblade charm on her thick gold ring. "Bet the other Girls don't have keyblades, huh?"

"Probably not," I agreed, flicking my keyblade earrings. Although I'd only had one back in Soul Kingdom, Chiho had explained that I had acquired another one to go with my "increased power."

"Now…Where to?" Chiho sighed impatiently, twirling her bracelet on her narrow wrist.

"To Prettyville!" I announced, pointing at the one part of the city that was still it up. It was the Big Face part of town, where all of the Pretties certainly would be found.

Yuki's mouth twisted up into a wicked grin. "Now this should be fun."

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We rode hoverboards into Prettyville.

Of course, Chi was having difficulty. Every time we accelerated, she slid a little farther back on the board, making us laugh. The sound was whisked away by the harsh wind, until we couldn't laugh anymore. The wind whipped at our clothes and made or ponytails fly straight behind our heads. And through it all, Chiho was sliding farther and farther towards the end of her hover board.

She hadn't even noticed until she fell off.

"CHIHO!" Yuki screamed, screeching to a stop.

"Chill," Chiho said, rolling her eyes. "Can you say hoverball rig?"

She was floating right behind Yuki. Yuki whipped around on her hoverboard, eyes bigger than Akako's when we'd almost been caught by the warden.

"Now," Chiho continued. "Can someone go get my board?" She pointed off into the distance, where her riderless hoverboard was still crashing through the trees at breakneck speed.

Within a few minutes, I'd caught Chiho's board. She was settled back on it, lying flat on her stomach like before. But we'd also made her put on grippy gloves and kneepads, which aggravated her.

"Why do I need these?" she kept whining. "They're pointless." She lifted one gloved hand and bent her fingers. "They're not doing anything."

"Sure they are," I told her. "It's okay to be hovering over the park, but what would the Pretties and Big Faces say if they happened to look up and saw a chibi floating in the air?"

"Nothing," Chiho insisted. "They'd go back to their bubbleheaded lives!"

"Or would they? Not all Big Faces are Pretties, you know. Like Aya Fuse, before she became a Special. She went straight from Ugly to Special. Never a bubblehead," Akako reminded Chiho.

"Fine," Chiho grumbled, flattening herself against her board even more.

000000

When we landed, we switched out clothes to more Pretty-style clothes: black minidresses with some sort of design on the back, over bold leggings and simple ballet flats.

"Well, this sucks," Yuki grumbled. She stared at her black minidress in the reflection of us on a big shiny building in obvious dismay. Her eyes grew huge as she noted the big gold screen-printed angel wings on the back. "Ugh…I hate dresses."

"I think mine's worse. Dresses suck!" Akako studied the shimmering red heart on the back of her dress and shuddered.

I opened my mouth to respond, but some one else beat me to it.

"Why?" A new voice spoke up from behind us. "They're so pretty."

We turned around. The girl standing behind us had a Manga-head face, with slight vampire fangs barely visible in her wide smile. Her huge eyes were green, her skin paler than snow. Her hair was dark brown, and fell to her shoulders in a short cut, which actually looked a little top-heavy but was really cute. She wore a light pink shirt with ruffles on the v-neck and the ends of the three-quarter sleeves, with a loose white mini skirt. Her hair was loosely tied with little pink ribbons to hang on either side of her face. She looked almost like a child, although she was the standard Pretty height and much taller than us.

"Kaede?" Yuki asked, a little shocked.

Confusion clouded the girl's face. "Kaede? No, I'm Ruriko. Ruri for short, if you want."

"Oh." My face fell. Of course we wouldn't find Kaede so easily. If the Pretty surge let her remember her grudges, she was probably locked in her new room making curse dolls. Ugh. Something about that image bothered me. Happy, carefree Kaede locking herself in her ultra-fancy, super-cool room to…make curse dolls and listen to emo music? Uh. I imagined several human-shaped candles in the window, melting until their heads were gone…until all you could see were the names, carved into the bottom: Yuki, Akako, Ariana…there probably wouldn't be a Chiho candle: nobody could hate Chiho enough to do that.

"But…let's see, you mentioned a name?" Ruri looked at us, her huge green eyes distant. "I know _everyone_ here. Who are you looking for?"

"Kaede," Yuki repeated.

"Oh! Kaede. I know her. She cam a few weeks ago." Ruri nodded.

"So you know where she is?" Akako smiled.

"Of course!"

"Ruri-chan, can you tell us how you know her, first?" Chiho asked, her eyes huge. They betrayed none of the suspicion I knew she was feeling.

"Yes. Kaede is my new room mate."

**A/N: Go to my profile to see a pic of Ruriko. (Or, if you have Skip Beat Volume 3, look at pg 47, in Act 13, and take away the gloves and microphone.) That's Ruri-chan, although she is a lot nicer in my story. (I do not own Ruri-chan, since she appeared in Skip Beat! and is from the imagination of Yoshiki Nakamura, not me.) I just…reinvented her, so she's not really Skip Beat! Ruri, she's more… "Pretties" Ruri. (I'm not making sense, am I?)**

**BTW-again, sorry fot the long author's note. But one last thing: 5 pages, and 1765 words. Heck. Yes.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Well, I know I said I wouldn't update NBB, but since you didn't TOTALLY ditch me (heh) I'll post a short chappy, and make you wait until next chap to see Kaede as a Pretty. (Cruel, aren't I? –maniacal laugh-)**

"Really?" Chiho squeaked, her eyes huge. "Really really?"

"Really really," Ruri said, studying our friend. "Uh, is she okay?"

"Yup," I cut in, quickly. "She's just…a little spazzy."

"Spazzy," Ruri repeated, laughing. "I like that word. Everyone here is like, 'sad-making! Happy-making! Nervous-making!' Nobody is original anymore." She shook her head. "We may not be brain damaged from surge, but I swear there's something wrong with the Pretties. Even I have my bubblehead moments."

I remembered the words of an old flame-kicker, Toshi. "Complaints. That's what the Mind Rain has given us. Complaints and fear."

And while I'd thought, 'yeah, and a brain,' I was beginning to see his point. This was weird, seeing a Pretty complain about living in the Big Face part of town. It was weird to meet someone who was at the top of the chain, yet still hated the Pretties. It was unnatural. There was something weird about Ruri, a Pretty though she was.

Very, very weird.

000000

There was an invisible boundary dividing Prettyville.

It went around the center of Prettyville, saving the middle for the highest-ranked people. And while all the buildings moved in the Big Face part of the city, in the middle the buildings changed color and shape, too. The inside never seemed to change, but the outside never repeated a single appearance. Only once had a building looked the same as its neighbor, and those two buildings were the Twin Towers, so of course they would. We passed mansions shaped like pyramids-normal and flipped- as well as rectangles, spheres, and other nameless shapes that looked more like oversized tree branches than buildings. And, or course, they all turned at the speed off an hour hand, just like all the other buildings in the Big Face part of the city.

Today, Valentino Mansion was double helix. It was black and red. The windows had designs on them, made to look like Rusty-style stained glass, but clear. It was pretty.

"Hey," Akako said suddenly. "Did that window just…change?"

"Yeah," Ruri nodded. They can be changed by the room's occupants. Although it's a bit of a pain, and it costs a stack of merits, we never have to bother with merit-grubbing." She laughed. "It comes with being a Pretty, I guess."

We nodded. The Reputation Economy could be a pain for us Sly Girls. But here, the residents loved the Reputation Economy and fed it regularly with their feed channels and high-tech gadgets. The world revolved around this place, and the residents knew that. It was like they believed it was the world's privilege to watch them, and it was bothersome for them.

Yeah, right. They were lapping up the attention.

"So," I said, realizing we'd stopped walking. "Can we go in?" I started walking up the stairs, towards the big front door of Valentino. I hesitated at the glowing golden door, waiting for the others to catch up. My hand hovered over the warm metal of the door's handle, waiting for them. I turned back to look at them over my shoulder. They were running, and Ruri was ahead of them, her tiny pigtails bouncing as she ran.

"Wait," Ruri said. "Don't touch the door handle!"

"Why not?" I demanded, playfully.

"Valentino is very protected. The residents have a password to get in, and only if you know the password can you touch the door without being shocked," Ruri explained. She reached towards a small black box mounted on the wall, which I hadn't noticed before. She entered a series of numbers and strange symbols so quickly, I could hardly see her hand moving.

The door clicked, and it glowed a little less strongly. "There you go," Ruri announced. She opened the door, gesturing for us to go in.

We entered, and I never even looked at the decorations, although I was sure it would be beautiful. I was busy.

000000

**Yuki's POV**

When Ruri let us in Valentino, we ran straight up the stairs without even glancing around.

"Room 1337, top floor," Ruri called from behind. "West wing! Good luck!"

"Bye," I heard Chiho shout behind her. "See ya around!"

Then we were almost flying up the stairs, eyes watering from the wind. We were traveling almost faster than when we were riding the hoverboards. Outside, the view gradually changed from buildings to stars. We could see a few Hot Airs (**A/N: for anyone who didn't read Uglies, this is a hot air balloon clique.**) floating around aimlessly, the bright balloons breaking apart the pattern of the dark night sky.

Then we were outside Kaede and Ruri's room. We paused in front of the black-painted door, staring at the shiny gold numbers, almost in disbelief.

Room 1337. This was it. Kaede was on the other side of the door.

We'd made it up thirteen flights of stairs, in record time. So why couldn't one of us make ourselves open the door?

**A/N: 861 words. Not bad for a "short chappy" huh? (:**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey, peeps. Well, here ya go! The newest chap of Pretty. (FYI- I just finished Bratfest At Tiffany's. OMFG! Massie is a baaaaaaaad alpha. She called off a rule that SHE made? She lost control in front of the guys? **_**She led the girls into the boys' locker room?**_** Hello, there! And that is so mean, cutting off the preview when it gets good…and making us wait a few months! Hello, she's gonna lose her fans…) Well, r & r.**

"Oh, you wimps," Ruri said. She'd caught up to us, and was reaching forward to unlock the door. "Seriously, this one isn't electro-charged. I promise." She flashed a brilliant smile as the door swung open.

The first things I noticed were the walls. They were bright, robin's-egg blue, like the inside of Rusty-time Tiffany & Co box. They were covered in posters, which changed with the thumping beat of the techno music blasting through the wallscreens.

Funny, it'd been perfectly quiet in the hall…

The next thing I noticed was the girl who was sitting on one of the two twin beds in the room. Hers was pushed against the wall, in one corner, so she could have a day bed/ couch thing. It was piled with pillows, and she was leaning against one side, headphones dangling around her neck pointlessly. Her shaggy brown layers were glossy and perfect, her skin was perfectly tanned, if a little bit red from the Doctors spraying new skin on her. Her eyes were focused on the bluish-green book in her hand. One hand was holding the book up, the other was tucked between her legs (which she'd pulled up almost to her chest) and her torso. Upon closer inspection, I saw that her eyes flashed from dark green to turquoise to black to mint green in time with the music. The new color exploded from around her pupils and spread out from there. Once they reached the edges of her irises, the new color exploded. I wondered how she saw, and if that was distracting or not.

It probably wasn't even bothering her, judging by the confused glare she was shooting us. "Hello?" She stared at us. "Do I know you?"

"Kaede!" Yuki squealed.

Kaede's eyes lit up as they filled with a wave of turquoise. "Ohmigod! Yuki! Chi! Ari! Akky!" She got up, the cord on her headphones swinging. "I haven't seen you in forever."

"It's been a few weeks," I said, confused.

"And that's forever!" Kaede squealed. "God, I've missed you guys so much, I really have."

"Then you're not mad?" Akako piped up, a little confused by Kaede's unbreakably shiny attitude. She was like the purple mirrored disco ball hanging from the ceiling: glittery, bright, and utterly untouchable.

"Mad? About that silly old fight? Of course not," Kaede insisted. "I mean, what was it about, anyway? I honestly don't know!" She laughed as her eyes flashed to mint green.

"It was about Yuki and you disagreeing over…who the loser was in the group," I sighed, cringing as I waiting for Kaede to scream at me. I flinched, but nothing came.

Instead, she laughed. I opened one eye. She was doubled over laughing.

"Wow, that's funny," she said, wiping away a non-existent tear. "I can't believe we actually fought over THAT!"

"Are you sure?" I sighed. "You were seriously mad. You said you didn't understand why you hang out with us."

"Oh, silly Ari-wa! Don't you understand? I was mad, but now I'm not. That was a silly reason for being mad at you guys. You're my best friends!" Kaede giggled as her black eyes filled with turquoise. "We all know it's impossible to stay murderously mad at your best friends. If it was, Yuki-chan might not be here right now." She giggled.

Ruri was the only one who joined her.

The rest of us were quiet. A ping popped up in my head. I opened it.

_What's wrong with her? Where'd her brain go?_

I arched an eyebrow at Yuki.

_That's not nice._

She shrugged back and smiled, lifting her palms to the sky when she shrugged, like, _I don't know._

I rolled my eyes.

"Kaede? Are you sure? I mean, you were really mad." I sighed. "I mean, usually you wouldn't give up a grudge like that so fast."

"I know, but that was the old me. New look, new dorm, therefore new Kaede!"

"What if we liked the old Kaede?" Chiho wondered.

But Kaede was still unfazed. "Well, new Kaede is a lot like New Kaede, minus the temper. I reinvented myself, and I think you'll like Pretty Kaede."

Then, I remembered something we'd learned about Tally Youngblood's pre-Special days. Shay.

Shay had turned without Tally, and Shay had been brainwashed. Just like Kaede, she had forgiven all her grudges instantly and been smiley and untouchable and, when taken out of her element, very whiny.

I wondered if the Doctor had accidentally put the scars on Kaede's mind. Like an old habit?

Or worse. What if they had done it on _purpose_?

**A/N: Ha ha! You hate me and my cliffies, huh? Ah, well. Be happy I'm updating at all. (Go to my profile-I changed things!) BTW, are you totally psyched for the dance yet?! Hello, it's on Friday! Wheeeeeeeee…Can't wait to find out what happens…and who dances with who. Hmmmm…well, you'll** **have to check my profile on like, Sunday (or Monday, depends on how much gossip there is!).**

**I probably won't be updating much this week, either. Like I said, definitely not on Friday or Saturday. Sunday, I'll be posting on my blog (I neglected that since last month!) and trying not to burst out screaming at the sevies in YB. Even after we submitted the first 60-ish pages, they still wanna change our theme! (Hello, can you say dumb?) (If you just said "Dumb" out loud, you are truly insane. Yay! Me too.)**

**Oh, and FYI- who caught what book Kaede is reading? Bratfest at Tiffany's, of course! (:**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Well, its Monday, and all of us are fully hung over from too much soda (what? we're barely teenagers!) and dancing, and I'm typing super-slowly right now. Whooo. Oh, and I learned a little bit of the Soulja Boy dance. I couldn't get it all down, cuz it was an awfully crowded hotel room… (-flashback to tripping over suitcase- Ugh! –shudder-)**

**I want cheese…**

**Anyway. R & R! (Yes, this means you! The views are climbing and my only reviewer is NBB! What gives, peeps?)**

Kaede sat up, her wide eyes blinking at the light streaming through her open window. The Rusty-era curtains blew lightly on the breeze. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, studying our faces. Her small, delicate mouth curled down into a confused frown. "What the heck?"

"Kaede," Ruri said happily. "You're awake!"

"No way," Kaede said, sarcastically.

I giggled into my palm. "We've been waiting for you to wake up for like, two hours."

"Wow. What happened?"

"We had a sleepover, and you passed out around two am," Yuki responded.

"Quite literally," Akako added. "You were sitting up, and you just like fell over all of a sudden."

"In the middle of What Would You Rather, too," Chiho piped up, her legs folded into the butterfly stretch. "It was like this!" She purposely lost her balance, falling backwards and landing on the soft floors with a thud. She managed to keep her legs pressed flat against the ground, still in the butterfly stretch, minus the perfectly straight posture.

We laughed.

"Wow," Kaede repeated. "I don't remember any of that!"

"Really?" I glanced at Yuki. "That's so weird."

Chiho swung herself back up without using her hands. "_Nothing_?" she asked.

"Well, I vaguely remember some people coming into my room…with Ruri, I think…and I remember talking with them, and laughing," Kaede said thoughtfully. "But the faces are fuzzy-looking."

Ruri blinked. "That was us. I came in with these guys"-she gestured towards us-"and then you guys had the whole sappy reunion thing and decided on a sleepover."

"Huh. I don't remember any of that," Kaede said lightly, seemingly unperturbed by her memory loss.

"Whatever," Chiho said. She was from Soul Kingdom; she was used to weird things happening all the time.

But the rest of us weren't.

What was with Kaede's memory loss? I studied her. She was chatting again, smiling and gesturing to a captivated Ruri and Chiho. They didn't even notice that the rest of us were totally tuned out. She seemed so carefree and completely unconcerned by it…

Just like the old Bubbleheads, pre-Mind Rain.

Did it have something to do with the Pretty surge?

**A/N: Okay, I hate to ruin the serious vibe here (not really…-.-) but I found my favoritest quote ever:**

"'**That's one f---ed up little prince,' said the caterpillar to the butterfly."**

**-pg 140 of "It Had To Be You" by Cecily Von Ziegesar**

**HA! I LOVE THAT!**

**A side note: I'm sorry I'm been posting such short chappys for this story! I really am!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well I've still got writers block, but I'm putting up a new chappy because I want to keep my head attached to my neck. Thanks, peeps. I've been getting anonymous death threats, so again: feel the love.**

"We need to knock some sense into her," Akako said abruptly.

She, Yuki, Chiho and Ariana were huddled in one corner of the bed. At the other end, Kaede was lying on her stomach, arms stretched out in front of her like a cat, and chattering happily to a sleepy Ruri. Ruri was slumped against the end of the bed, half-asleep. But Kaede was taking the nodding head as agreement, not sleepiness, so she kept going.

"Whatcha mean?" Chiho asked. She was sitting cross-legged, hands clutching her ankles so she wouldn't fall backwards and fall asleep.

"I mean, listen to her!" Akako insisted. There was moment of silence as they listened to Kaede:

"Oh, yeah! Did I tell you? Oh, no, I don't think I did. Allie got a brand-new fuzzy wuzzy little puppy! The Rusties called her breed Pomeranians, I think. I don't know. All I know is, I couldn't live with dog hair all over everything in my room, ya know? Oh, but she's just such a little puff-ball, absolutely adorable, right? Oh, here, I'll have the wallscreen pull up a pic!" Kaede hit her wall with one tiny fist, waking it (and the people on the other side of the wall), and said, "Room, can you pull up a pic of Allie-san's puppy? She-the dog, I mean- is just SO cuuuuuute!"

"Yes, Kaede-sensei," the room said, and she squealed.

"Oh, I'll never get used to being called Kaede-sensei! I mean, how much respect that implies, and it's just so nice-sounding, ya know? Kaede-sensei? Kaede-_sensei_." Kaede giggled and rolled over onto her back. "I love it! It's so happy-making!"

Akako gestured towards our friend. "See? She speaks bubblehead!"

"So? I do that sometimes," Ariana argued.

"Sarcastically," Yuki put in.

"True," Ariana admitted. "But still. I think she could be acting right now. Pretending to be a bubblehead, maybe?"

"OH! You know what else? Anna just got a miniature poodle! He's awfully fluffy-wuffy too, but not as much as Allie's puppy is." Then, upon discovering the tiny black dots on her crackers (and in her omelet) were not, in fact, tiny berries: "Ew, fishy!" She picked up a champagne flute from the hovertray next to the bed and chugged it. She began using a dollhouse-proportioned fork to try to scrape the caviar off of her food, but gave up in the end. She winced when she took the next bite out of a cracker. "Fishy!" she repeated, frowning bitterly. "Ugh."

"Okay no. That girl isn't pretending anything. She is so Pretty!" Chiho finally fell over, but she rolled over onto her stomach and propped her head up on her hands. "Damn it! We lost our best."

"Hey!" Ariana said, pouting like she'd just been seriously offended.

The others ignored her offended protest.

"So," Yuki said slowly. "Now what?"

"Now, we make her un-Pretty-fied!" Chiho said enthusiastically.

Akako frowned. "The question is, how do we do that?"

**A/N: Okay, NOW I know what to do for the next chap! Keep looking for that, kay?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Wow, I'm actually posting on Pretty?! That like, never happens! Ha ha. Also, is there a plural of Heartless? "Heartlesses" doesn't look right…What do you think? Tell me in a review! (Yes, you! I have a gazillion views and only NBB is reviewing! Hullo???)**

**Sorry if I scare you, but that's just me being…well, me. (:**

"I think you're insane," Yuki informed me. She crossed her legs, causing an avalanche of my pillows to fall onto her head. "HEY!"

I sighed as Akako and Chiho helped Yuki dig out of the mound of fluff.

"What do you need so much stuff on your bed for, anyway?" Yuki scowled once her head was freed.

"To bury you in," I said sarcastically. "At least you shut up when you're buried."

"Whatever," Yuki said, tossing the last pillow onto the floor. My room immediately absorbed the pillow and spat out a new one, cleaner but otherwise the same, onto my bed. "And I still think you're insane."

I scoffed at her. "Gee, thanks."

"What? Like it isn't true?" Akako frowned at me. "I mean, Kaede isn't, like, _fat_ or anything, God no, but do you honestly think that if we throw her out of the top of the building, even with a hoverboard, that the landing won't make a _little_ noise?"

I pouted crossly. "Like you have another idea?"

"Actually," Chiho offered. "I do."

We turned to stare at her, all at once.

"Okay, stop doing that," she said, frowning at us. "It's really creepy, the whole unison thing? Yeah. Please stop."

"Sorry," Yuki said immediately.

"Yeah. Now, what's your plan? Since Ari's will get Kaede killed," Akako said, glancing at me.

I smiled back sweetly, twisting my interface ring to order some champagne and other random goodies.

"My plan," Chiho said, shooting me her patented you-will-shut-up-now glare, "is to bring her back to Soul Kingdom. And either Cloud or the Heartless will knock some sense into her."

"Oh," I said. "And _my_ plan was going to get Kaede killed? She wants to have our bubbleheaded-BFF fight a Heartless!"

Chiho frowned. "Okay, maybe not real Heartlesses."

"What's the other option? Fake Heartlesses?" Yuki frowned.

"Or Cloud in a Heartless suit?" I giggled as I took a glass of champagne off the tray that had appeared in the room only seconds ago.

Akako hit me across the back of my head, making me almost spill the bubbly golden liquid all over my bed. "Ari, the goal is to get Kaede's brain back, not to make her depressed!"

"True," I admitted. "But then what's the other option?"

"Well," Chiho started, sipping from her glass flute. She set it on the tray again, even though it was still mostly full. "Yuki was actually pretty close. There are fake Heartlesses out there. Ones we can control. Use them as spies, or, in this case, training tools."

We all tilted our heads at the exact same time.

"You're doing it again!" Chiho cried, exasperated. "You guys really are creeping me out."

"Sorry," we said, still in unison.

"Guuuuuuuuys," Chiho whined, crossing her arms and chibi-pouting.

"Fine," I said, and tilted my head the other way. "Better?"

Chiho nodded sarcastically. "Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah. We can have the fake Heartlesses attack her and she's gotta remember how to fight them off."

"And if she doesn't?" I frowned, picturing Pretty Kaede accidentally jabbing herself in the gut with her own staff as the Heartless surrounded her. Ugh.

"We have Cloud jump in and kick their butts," Chiho said, breaking my daydream.

"What makes you think he'll help?" Yuki piped up. She ripped a chunk off of her chocolate muffin and stuffed it in her mouth.

"What makes you think he won't?"

Yuki pondered this while she chewed. "Isn't he like, lone emo boy?"

Chiho hit Yuki's arm.

"Hey!" Yuki squealed, dropping the muffin as she rubbed her arm. "What was that for?"

"No crumbs all over my bed! I just bought this blanket and it cost me a huge stack of merits." I scowled at her, flicking the chocolate off of my silky bed.

"Since Kaede isn't here to slap you for stereotyping Cloud, I'm taking her job," Chiho explained, ignoring me. She lifted one hand and we saw her black-painted nails, which had grown out. They were longer than normal and resembled talons. "See? Built-in weapons."

"Nice," I said, laughing. "And you may have to slap Yuki a lot."

"Sigh," Yuki said, putting her head on her hand. I got the feeling she was quoting someone, although I had no idea who.

Chiho slapped Yuki's arm again. "Bad Yuki!" she scolded. "Kaede would have beheaded you by now!"

"Gee, thanks," Yuki muttered.

Chiho smiled. "Oh, but you do know that my is my job after all, and torture is my favorite hobby. I mean, there's gas chambers, and medieval spike coffins, and-"

"Back to the Heartless plan," Akako said abruptly.

"Right," Chiho said, her ADD-esque habits coming in handy. "So, I think that maybe we should kidnap her and take her to SK? And then like let her get settled in a little, and then have the Heartless attack?"

"Chi, I don't think having the Heartless attack her is such a brilliant idea. And after all, you can't even control a wallscreen. How do you think you can control a Heartless drone?" Akako frowned.

Chiho shrugged. "I'm magical," she said, twirling her shrunken keyblade/staff around her fingers like a wallscreen pen. It shot safety sparks (pink, blue, and gold) into my room.

"And since when are you an uptalker?" I demanded. "Every single thing you just said sounded like a question!"

Chiho shrugged. "Do I care?" She paused. "Yes, that was supposed to be another question."

"Okay, well, here's another one: how do we get her to SK? Can we knock her out or something?"

Our eyes flew to Chiho, who blinked innocently. "I'm sorry," she said. "I ran out of chloroform with my last kidnapping."

"Oh," I said. "Wait-_what_?"

She smiled. "Sadistic chibi from a parallel universe. Remember?" She tugged out a cute little bunny and beamed. "Speaking of chibi. Isn't this just the plushest thing ever?"

We studied the bunny. At first glance it was totally adorable and harmless. Then you noticed the tiny felt fangs. And you realized that the black straps thrown into an X across the bunny's pale pink t-shirt were not backpack straps, seeing how as they had bullets strapped to them…and a plastic machine gun was tucked into the cute little lace skirt pocket. In place of a carrot, there was a jade-handled knife, although the handle was carved to resemble a carrot's leaves. It had a cute little top hat that was black with white lace and a tiny red mini rose.

It was the most scary-cute thing any of us had ever seen, counting Chiho herself.

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "It's…um…very original."

Akako nodded wordlessly.

"Okay, two things," I said. "One: my God, that bunny is scary as all heck! And two, you're hanging around Prettyville too much if you just said something is the 'plushest thing ever' with a straight face."

Chiho giggled. "Yeah," she said, strapping another gun to the bunny and straightening the bullet-belt. "I'm toe-dall-ly bubbleheaded."

"Word mutation!" I squealed, pointing a finger at Chiho and pulling one hand up to my mouth, the way Chiho did when she wanted to appear extra-innocent. I'm sure the affect wasn't quite the same, but whatever, right?

Yuki laughed at me before turning to Chiho. "Seriously. Pretty talk, psycho bunny, word mutation…What is _wrong_ with you?"

Chiho shrugged. "Better question-what's wrong with Kaede?"

We shrugged.

Yuki shrugged. "Whatever it is, we'll be fixing it soon enough…"

000000

Kaede's enormous eyes scanned her room. She swore the shadows were moving, dancing around the room in a way her moving posters never did.

"Hello?" she whispered. There was muffled laughter, but nothing moved. Nobody came forward.

"Guys? This is so un-funny!" Kaede slammed one fist against her soft blankets. The muffled giggles reached her ears once more, but still, nothing moved. "Huh-llo?"

A piece of shadow suddenly detached itself. "Hello, Kaede…"

**A/N: dramatic music The speaker is NOT any of the girls, FYI. You'll see next chap! Btw-I haven't been feeling good recently so don't expect a lot of updates for a while…Sorry. :(**

**Yet another "BTW"-for those of you who read the "Private" series by Kate Brian, did anyone else figure out that PRIVILEGE is a totally separate series? Same characters, but its gonna follow Ariana. I cant wait, it's gonna be SO cool! My Spanish name is Ariana, but some people didnt understand why I chose that, until NBB finished the books and realized why. Its cuz I pretty much AM Ariana. Adorable, airy, insane murder who should be locked in a padded cell some where? Yeah. (: (Wow, that was very mood-swing-y…depressivo, then all happy? Jeez. Stupid cough meds.)**

**The FINAL "BTW" note (for this chappy, anyway)- I found a hilarious DracoxGinny FanArt gallery, and (after being very confused as to why Ginny wears so much couture) I burst out laughing. Ya know why? Comments.**

"**Well done art, but Draco and Ginny have the percentage of getting together as Harry and Snape do."**

**OMG! LOTI! (My replacement for the Forbidden Phrase. Means "Laughing on the inside." I read LEGACY too many times…)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I haven't updated in forever…maple is so addicting…-sniff- Well. Anyway. 2-3 chaps (that's 2 to 3, not 23) before May, I promise, because May will be insane. I mean, hello! New clique book, fanime for 2 days, Masquerade practice…-yawn- I'm gonna be sleeping the other 5 percent of the time…**

Kaede's eyes flashed turquoise in the darkness. She scanned the room in panic, eyes wide with fear.

"Hello?" she asked, trying to sound angry. Her attempts failed, as her voice sounded like a squeak more than the irritated demand she'd hoped for. "HULLO?" she shouted.

A flame lit in the corner, soaring to several feet high. A young blonde girl stepped forward. "Hey!"

Kaede stared not at her but the room. It was dark, but well furnished with wooden bunk beds that were covered in warm SmartMatter blankets, wooden nightstands, and shelves carved into the wall near each bed, one per person. Kaede noted her journal on one of the shelves and hoped nobody had read it.

Then the girl cleared her throat. And Kaede realized that her journal was probably the least of her worries.

The girl stepped closer. "Um…sorry, did I hurt you when you…um, fell?" She giggled shyly.

Kaede glanced away from the room to study the girl. She wore a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, a white minidress with some sort of small dotted pattern on it, and cute low pigtails tied loosely with white hair ties that had tiny polar bear charms (two per pigtail). It was a very kindergarten outfit, but it was still cute. She had big greenish blue eyes with pink eyeshadow dusted on top. She vaguely reminded Kaede of Ruri. Her eyes stayed fixed on Kaede.

Kaede shrugged. "I fell?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, you…fell…out a window. Your dorm window actually."

Kaede cringed. "So…where am I?"

"OH! I'm so sorry. I forgot. My name is Michiko!" She smiled. "Chiho gave me that name. My parents…well, mom was never much of a mom. Daddy…I dunno." She shrugged, then her glittery aura appeared again. "I don't care. I have a new friend!" She smiled expectantly at Kaede.

Kaede raised an eyebrow. One word had caught her notice: Chiho. "How do you know Chiho?"

"Oh, Chi-chan and you and me have been besties forever!" Michiko giggled.

Kaede scrunched up her nose. "Forever?"

"Yeah. Forever." Michiko nodded. "We lost contact like, two years ago. I made do with just Sora and Cloud and Ren and Roxas, but…" She shrugged. "I missed having non-guy friends."

Kaede laughed. "I don't know you," she said.

Michiko froze. "Um, what?"

"I don't know you! I don't recognize you or anything," Kaede insisted.

Michiko's smile froze, wavered, and finally became a sad pout. "Oh. I guess Chi-chan was right. I guess I'll go…get…Chi…" She ran off, the flame seeming to trail beside her.

Kaede stared after her in the darkness, wondering what she'd done.

000000

"How is she?" Cloud asked, his voice quiet.

"Sleepy," Michiko answered. "Must be. She doesn't remember me, or falling out the window last night."

"She fell out of a window?" Cloud whisper-shouted.

"More like got pushed," Chiho piped up, her teased pigtails bouncing as she shook with laughter.

Cloud was silent.

"Um, I missed that," Ren said after an awkward silence. "Can we see?"

"Ooooooh! Lemme do it," Chiho insisted.

_Everyone in the room quickly fell to darkness, with the exhilaration of falling backwards into nothing. Then a scene played on their minds, lighting up the darkness._

_A blurry image of six red human-shaped blobs moving around an otherwise dark room fills the screen. Small, all-caps black print says "INTERFACE: HEAT" across the top of the scene. A final orange-ish person is curled up into a small blob, and it is clearly sleeping and in a bed, covered by blankets._

_The second-to-smallest standing blob comes forward and tries to tug the sleeping person off the bed._

"_Guys," she says. "Help me out here!"_

"_Geez, Michi," the smallest blob says, coming forward. "Really. It helps if you untuck the blankets. That's like, half her weight right now."_

_There is silence as the other blobs come closer to the orange one and the two tiny ones._

"_Oh. Thanks," the first small girl says. "Well, this should go smoother now…"_

"_Fine," one of the taller girls says. "Can we use NV now?"_

"_NV?" asks another tall girl._

"_Night vision," the second-to-shortest girl says. The "NV" kicks in and you see the girl, Michiko, rolling her eyes._

_The shortest girl, Chiho, is shown smirking. "Now, Michi, let's go!"_

_Michiko is tugging the sleeping form, Kaede, off the bed. She falls forward, nearly crushing Michiko and definitely knocking down Chiho and Michiko. The others, Yuki and Akako and Tally, come forward and pry Kaede off of the two girls._

"_Wow," Tally hissed. "You can't even do that?"_

"_Just get her outside." Yuki shrugs._

" _Shay's below, waiting. She's most likely gonna get bored and leave soon, so if you want someone to catch her-" Tally started._

"_Alright, alright, we're moving," Michiko says, dragging Kaede over to the window. The others help push her onto the window seat and onto the windowsill, where her legs dangle over. There is a brief crash, and everyone shudders, and Michiko slaps her hands over her eyes before peeking again. But there is another crash, making them all grimace._

_The scene darkens. There is the sensation of flight, and then they are all back in their bodies in the present again._

"Wow," Ren said. There was a brief silence as Michiko squirmed, trying to escape Cloud's glare.

"You dropped her?" Cloud hissed.

Michiko blushed, tugging on her blonde curly pigtails. "Maybe," she mumbled.

"It was Shay's fault for leaving," Chiho piped up. Cloud's glare turned on her, but she met it with an indignant stare. Her chin was tipped up and, though her eyes weren't as narrowed as his, they held just as much force.

"Fine," Cloud mumbled, sitting back. He glanced at the door across the narrow hall, the girls' room, where Kaede was.

"Besides," Shay piped up. "It's partly all of their fault, too, because they took so long! If they'd been quick, I wouldn't have gotten distracted. Diego still needs us, and you know it."

"Yeah, but that's what Fausto and the newbies are for," Tally snapped. "You had a job last night."

Shay rolled her eyes and flicked her hand back and forth, watching her nails extend and retract as she did so. Flick, extend. Flick, retract. Flick, extend…

Tally reached out and grabbed her friend's arm. "Stop it! That's so annoying!"

Shay grinned and flicked her other hand, laughing. Tally rolled her eyes. Ren layer one hand over the other and moved his thumbs around. Chiho, Michiko, and Ariana stared at him, confused.

"Awkward turtle," he whispered, making the, laugh.

He and Sora high-fived, and Roxas rolled his eyes, secretly looking at Akako. Ariana nudged Chiho, who giggled. Both girls glanced at each other before collapsing into giggles. Pretty soon, Michiko and Yuki had joined in and the whole group was cracking up, even Akako and Roxas, who had no idea what the others were laughing about.

The scene was almost normal. But nobody noticed Cloud slipping out of his chair and letting himself into Kaede's room across the hall.

**A/N: Well? What ya think? I think I missed American Idol…-sniff- DAVID ARCHULETAAAAAAAAAAAA! –cries- So…cute…**

**Anyway. I put him on this CD I made, and the girls started screaming when he sang. TF, right? (TFtoo funny.)**

**XOXO!**

**The One And Only Ghettofabulous Noelle (whaaaaat? I had to.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm SO SORRYYYY! MY COMP FRIED ITSELF AND YA! I HAD TO REDO THIS! I'M SO SORRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! Now that that's over…Two chaps. M-chan, if you don't give me the Dylan book I will personally hire a trained ninja-frog to come get you. (Or the book, which mite b easier.) Ha ha. Just be happy, kay? Lawl. Well, R & R! (yes, you! Several hundred views, and only one reviewer? HELLO?!) BTW, I'm currently listening to Ramielle Malubay's version of "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?" So cool! "Do you/ ever think back/ on those memories we had?/ Oh do I ever cross your mind?" (A little depressing tho that this was one of her last AI songs…hopefully, she'll be back next season! –sniff-)**

**Also sorry for such long A/N's. I ramble too much...**

Kaede stared at the wall blankly. Her eyes were glazed over, and her eyescreen was playing tricks on her. She was certain of it. How else would her awesome bedroom in Prettyville have turned into a cold, dark room that was so poorly furnished? Her gaze flicked derisively over the bare furnishings. Really, now.

The door clicked. Kaede jumped, then saw Cloud. She sighed softly, and he came over.

"Hi!" she said, brightly.

He stared back blankly.

"Um, hullo?" Kaede's bubbly smile curled downward. She frowned at him and crossed her arms.

Cloud stared back. Who was this? This wasn't Kaede. There was no way. Kaede would never wear the outfit that this girl was wearing (a black one-shoulder tank top, with denim short-shorts and several layers of gold necklaces, one of which was playing some sort of music video). She never would have gotten pink highlights, even if they flashed from pink to blue to purple. Her eyes were supposed to be brown, not flashing turquoise to green to blue to… (ah, you get it!) And Kaede certainly wouldn't have stared at him like that. Her head was tilted and her smile was blank.

"HEEEEEELLLLOOOOO?" Kaede shouted in his ear. She sat back on her legs. "Kuh-loud? Are you there?"

Cloud cleared his throat. "Yeah," he mumbled. "More or less…"

Kaede tilted her head further. "Huh?"

Cloud studied her for a moment and opened his mouth to speak.

All of a sudden, the door shot open and there stood Michiko, hands on her hips and eyes panicked. "Where's Georgiiiiiiiinaaaaa?" she squealed. "She ran in here!"

The two stared back at her, utterly confused.

"Way to ruin the moment!" Kaede screeched at Michiko.

"Moment?" Cloud asked.

"Um-ah, I mean…well…uh, y'know…" Kaede stuttered. "Um, nothing."

"THERE!" Michiko shouted, pointing at Cloud. "Georgina!"

Cloud looked totally offended. "Excuse me?" he hissed. Cloud grimaced as something chomped on his ear.

Michiko marched over and reached toward his shoulder.

_Um, excuse me? _Kaede thought. She crossed her arms, irritated.

"There you are!" Michiko plucked something off of Cloud's ear. "Awww, you silly little girl."

Cloud stared at her. _Silly little girl?_

Michiko put whatever was in her hand on the floor and beamed. "Grow," she said.

A little spot on the floor began to glow, and then it got bigger and bigger until it was a full-sized polar bear. Kaede muted a little squeak of surprise. Since when did that happen? She backed herself away, towards the wall, hoping it wouldn't see her. The thing was huge, and she could bet it had sharp teeth.

Michiko fearlessly ran forward and tackle-hugged it around its big, furry neck. "Georgiiiiiiina!" she squealed. "Don't you disappear ever, ever, ever again!"

_How do you lose a polar bear?_ Kaede wondered.

The bear nuzzled her affectionately, its eyes closed and nose twitching. Or maybe it was sniffing out possibilities for its next lunch? It was impossible to tell. Kaede couldn't read animals' minds, as her skills had disappeared with the rest of her IQ.

Not that she noticed, or even knew she was missing them.

"Small," Michiko said, and Georgina disappeared. "There!" She stood and grinned. "My pigtails felt a little uneven, and that's how I knew Georgie was missing!"

Kaede had many questions popping up her head, but none of them where all that nice. So, finally, she settled on, "Georgie?"

"Georgina! Duh," Michiko said, stroking her blonde pigtails. The plastic polar bear charms on her pigtails gleamed.

"Cute hair thingies." Kaede noted. Then she smiled. "Do they have names?" she joked.

"Yes!" Michiko shouted excitedly. Kaede's eyes grew wide.

"I was kidding," Kaede protested. But it didn't matter. Michiko was already listing off their names, flicking her index finger against her thumb for each name.

Michiko giggled into her palm. "Georgina is this one, and she's with Franklin, and that's Mary Lou Ann, and this is Simon."

Kaede blinked. "Um, what?"

"Those are their names," Michiko said.

"How…nice." Kaede gulped, fighting back the many sarcastic comments that were forming in the back of her mind. _Stop it_, she scolded herself. _Be nice…_

"Sooo…" Michiko said slowly. She stepped backwards, retreating swiftly. Finally, she had realized she wasn't exactly wanted at the moment. Carefully, she stepped backwards, her enormous eyes never leaving Cloud's glowering face for fear that he would kill her if she even blinked. Finally, she turned and fled down the hall like it was on fire.

Once Michiko was gone, Kaede sighed, turning back to Cloud.

There was a loud crash outside. Ren's unmistakable voice called out, "He did it!"

Cloud sighed. "I better go," he said, getting up.

Kaede stared after him, eyes wide. "What? No!" she blurted.

He turned around.

Kaede blushed. "I mean, um, yeah, go ahead."

Cloud chuckled to himself as he walked, trying his hardest not to smile on the way out.

**A/N: Well. Ther you go, 833 words. Three pages. Be happy. I am. I just bought David Archuleta! Or, um, his songs. Close enuff. I was texting my friend and all of a sudden I'm like, "OMG DAVID ARCHULETAAAAAAA! SO CUUUUUUUTE!" He was like, "Wtf? Y do I care?" and I'm like "Jealous?" Haha. He knows I'm kidding…rite?! Lawl. Well, for my sake, let's hope so. :P Altho if he listens to J-chan… XD Well, there goes any rep I've managed to build… UGH! (don't laugh. I know you are. My own cousin is laughing, and she's just reading the author note. She has no idea who these people are.**

**Editor's Note: After she read that I was typing about her, she hit me. While I was typing. Gee, thankies, K-chan.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey! So. Haven't updated in…well, a long time. Here ya go. Enjoy! (btw-maddi, nice fangirl squeal. Ha!)**

"_Kae-kae?"_

_Kaede paused. She was watching a scene from a Rusty-era cherry-blossom festival. A tiny girl with short black pigtails in a blue kimono came running up to her friend._

_The tiny six-year-old girl tugged on her friend's pink summer kimono. She turned. The tiny girl smiled expectantly. Her tiny black pigtails blew in an invisible breeze that Kaede couldn't feel._

_Kaede immediately recognized the slightly taller girl to be herself, but the other girl only looked familiar. Kaede couldn't see who she was.  
_

"_Kae-kae, where's my mommy?" Her eyes filled with tears. Child-Kaede stared down at her.  
_

"_Um…" Child-Kaede paused. "I…don't know."_

_The girl's eyes flooded over, her expression falling. "Mommy?" she whimpered._

_Real-Kaede frowned. She reached out to pat the little girl's head (she felt bad for her), but her hand went right through the girl's head. "What?" Kaede gasped, but the scene played on like Real-Kaede wasn't even there._

_A tall man came running up. "Are you…?" he asked, grabbing the little girl's arm._

"_Hey!" Real-Kaede cried out. But no sound came from her throat._

_She turned to stare up at him. "Daddy?"_

_The man sighed. "No," he said. "I have…bad news. Your mommy and daddy aren't…coming home."_

_The little girl's eyes widened. "Why?" she whispered._

"_It's not your fault…" he said._

"_No!" the little girl shouted. "I'll be a good girl! Bring mommy and daddy back, please…"_

_The man shook his head. "I'm…sorry. I can't." Then he walked away._

_Kaede stared after him, wondering what she'd just seen._

000000

Kaede woke up, panting. "What the-?" She paused, doing the yoga breaths her teacher had taught her back in Prettyville.

"Chi-wa, I'm bored." Kaede rolled over in her bed. "Why is this place soooo boring?"

Chiho groaned. But she still played along. "Because, Kae-la, it's three in the morning back home. You're still jet-lagged. Or dimension-travel-lagged. Whatever."

Kaede sighed. "But that's not why things are boring here! Here, it's two AM. Back in Prettyville, I'd be in a party tower with Ruri-wa right now…"

Chiho gripped her blankets in two tiny fists, shaking with suppressed anger. "_That_," she said through gritted teeth. "Is not my fault. But here, _you_'re bored because _you _wouldn't go training with us. So _you_'re not tired like the _rest of us are_, and _you_ have no desire to be asleep because _you _just sat there and slept the whole day!"

Shockingly, Kaede giggled. "True-true," she hummed. "But what did you do?"

"I stabbed Roxas. Twice." (_There_, Chiho thought to herself._ Maybe that'll get her to shut up._)

Kaede gasped. "Rea-lly?" She giggled. "Too funny!"

From below, Akako kicked Kaede's bed. "Hey! You!"

Kaede peeked over the edge of the bed. "Yes, Akky-chan?"

"Shut it," Akako growled. "Some of us are tired." She kicked the bed on the last word.

"Geez," Kaede said. "It's not like it's late at night or anything."

"You're right," Yuki hissed from her bed. "It's early. Way too early in the morning for you to be _talking_."

"SO SHUT UP," Ariana howled from her bed above Yuki.

The room fell silent for a few minutes.

"I'm still not tired," Kaede grumbled, but still settled under the covers.

000000

The next morning, Kaede woke to the smell of pseudomeat.

"What-?" She sat up, and immediately hit her head on the rough stone ceiling with a loud SMACK sound. "OW!" She fell back, frowning, before she turned to peek over the edge of her bed.

"Mmmm," a voice mused. "Wonder if there was an echo."

She spotted the small group on the floor. Roxas, Ren, Sora, Akako, Yuki, Chiho, and Ariana were sitting cross-legged on the floor, in a small circle, staring intensely at the small cluster of water purifiers on the ground. Cloud was glancing disinterestedly at her.

"Um, what?" Kaede asked. "What are you guys doing?"

"Breakfast," Ren said, like that explained their little water-purifier-cult thingy.

Chiho, mature as ever, snorted, "Ha! Ren is _doing_ his breakfast."

Michiko snickered and high-fived her. Ren pelted them with random rocks. Everyone else ignored them.

"Okay. But where's Tally and Shay?"

"Hunting. They can't stand this stuff," Ariana waved a thin hand at the small white plastic purifiers.

"Tally lived off SpagBol for soooo long," Yuki agreed, speaking more to the little cult than to Kaede.

Everyone from the city nodded. The SK-residents pretended they understood, but were actually quite blank. (Ren especially-he'd never had much of a brain to think with anyway.)

Suddenly, Shay and Tally burst into the room. "Crap," Tally hissed. She slammed the door behind her. "That won't hold them for long."

Shay grimaced. "You think?"

"Won't hold what for long?" Cloud asked. Kaede blinked in disbelief. It was the longest sentence she'd ever heard him say.

"These funny black buggy thingies," Tally said, sounding more pretty-headed than ever. "They had these big yellow eyes…"

"Heartlesses," they all said, except for Kaede, Shay, and Tally, who had no idea what those were.

"The what?" Shay asked.

"Ant-like little things that are hell-bent on killing us," Chiho supplied.

"What-like?" Tally asked.

"Bugs," Chiho said after a moment. "Little bugs with big antennae and lots of creepy-crawly legs."

Something smashed into the door.

"What rude visitors," Ren grumbled sarcastically. But he pulled out his keyblade and sighed.

"Well, we're about to be really rude hosts," Chiho piped up. She tugged at her bracelet; the charm came off in her hand easily and expanded into an enormous keyblade with a tiny cluster of charms on the end swinging merrily. She smiled enthusiastically, looking more like she was about to go shopping more than she was going to kill something. **(A/N: Shopping? With a large keyblade? Only Chiho… -.-)**

"That was lame," Kaede grumbled from bed. She slowly got up, realizing she'd been lying under the covers the whole time, and pulled on a pair of white leggings at random. She jumped down and grabbed her staff from the corner, never having figured out how to shrink it. (And Tally wouldn't let them teach her again. "Who knows what else she'll try to shrink?")

"Okay, then why don't you help us out here?" Akako squealed just as the heartless smashed themselves through the door. Michiko screamed.

"OhmiGOD! They're ugly!" Michiko gasped as she slammed her pink snowflake staff into one of them. "Geez. The least they could have done was be cute when they invaded our place, but noooo, they had to be _ugly_!" She stabbed another one, watching with approval as pink, glittery, perfume-y smelling clouds choked the poor thing from the inside out until it died.

"Um, hello?" Chiho slashed at a small group of Heartlesses that had swarmed her, spinning wildly like an ice skater on drugs. "Do you really think I'd be able to hurt these things if they were cute?"

Michiko squealed in frustration as the Heartlesses drove her into a corner. "Guess not," she squeaked as they slowly formed a mound over her. Soon, they couldn't see Michiko anymore.

"MICHI!" Chiho screamed. But her concern was unnecessary: there was a flash of super-bright white light and the heartlesses exploded, revealing Michiko and her four polar bears, all fully grown. (or expanded, or whatever the term is!) One of them was randomly flashing to pinkish-purple, but other than that it was one of the coolest things they'd ever seen.

"Wheeeeeeee," Michiko sang, slashing at another layer of heartlesses with such force that she spun in a circle. "This is kinda fun!"

But Kaede was backed into a corner, her back pressed against the cold stone and her eyes wide. "Uh…guys?"

Yuki squeaked. "Kaede!"

Tally, who up to that point had just been idly jumping off the heartlesses, from one black head to another, bounded over to Kaede and proceeded to rip apart the heartlesses. "You prettyheads are _so_ incompetent," she grumbled, sounding more bored than angry.

But when the layer of heartlesses had been peeled away, Kaede wasn't there.

**A/N: Don't mean to kill the mood but… -cue dramatic music!-**

**BTW-Bliss: "Did you know you're totally frickin hot?" Niiiiiiice.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Wootness! I'm updating! Now u hav 2 giv me ALICIA, NBB! Ha! (: And hello, every1 else who's reading this FF, REVIEW PLEASE! I SEE YOU LAUGHING AT ME RIGHT NOW, BUT PLEASE REVIEW!**

Kaede woke up on a cold, hard floor. She wrinkled her nose. "Ewwww, it smeeeeellls," she whined. She stood up, brushing off her clothes. Her pink recyclable nightgown was so nawt supposed t be treated like this: there was a thin rip at the bottom where the ruffle was coming off the edge. She sighed, tugging the leggings she'd "borrowed" from Michiko down to cover more of her legs-the room was cold, like the owners wanted the people in the building to be miserable.

"What have we here? A new arrival!"

Kaede jumped. The voice was raspy, but it had a sharp edge to it. Kaede mumbled a quick spell to illuminate the top of her staff. She shoved it into every dark spot in the room, but there was nobody else there.

"Um, hello? Who…is this?" Kaede asked.

"Guess," the voice said, dripping with sarcasm.

"Cloud? Ari? Chi? Yuki? Akky? Tally? SHAY?!" Kaede guessed. If it was Shay, she was going to scream, because Shay-la wasn't exactly someone Kaede would laugh with at the end of this scary-making joke.

"No," the voice said. It sounded bored, but also like it wanted to laugh.

"Uhm…Ren? Sora? Roxas?"

"No."

"RURI?! IF THIS IS YOU I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR LITTLE A-"

"No," the voice interrupted. "Guess again, you're rather entertaining, Miss Kaede." The voice chuckled dryly. The sound was like nails on a Rusty-era chalkboard. Kaede flinched before she gathered her tiny shreds of confidence again.

Kaede stomped her foot. "This is so nawt funny! Just tell me who you are!" She sighed impatiently, trying hard not to freak out when she heard the footsteps approaching her. What had she been thinking? Telling a potentially dangerous person to come closer? And what if this person was like, totally unstable and went crazy and then-

The person who stepped forward was a tall woman. She had a dark cloak draped around her shoulders. Her features were like that of a Special, but older. Kaede squinted at her.

"You know, you're kind of ugly," Kaede said. She smiled helpfully.

The woman scowled. "My name is Dr. Cable, and this _was_ Special Circumstances."

000000

"Where do you think she is?" Chiho wondered again. It was six in the morning. For all she'd complained about Kaede's babbling at three AM, she just couldn't shut up.

They'd fought off the heartlesses long ago, but now were just trying to sleep in their rooms. Yuki was tired of hearing this question. She was worried about Kaede too, of course, but enough was enough! Really, couldn't she find a new way to phrase the question, at least?

Akako was _thisclose_ to hitting her head against the wall. Ariana was drowning her out by pumping music over her skintenna. All of them were debating shoving Ren's sweaty post-training socks into her mouth just to shut her up.

"I mean, do you think someone stupid brought back the Dark Dork or something?" Chiho babbled on.

"No," Yuki said through gritted teeth. "I don't think so."

"Well, who else is crazy enough to kidnap? Gawd knows heartlesses aren't smart enough to like, just decide to kidnap someone on their own." Chiho sighed and settled into her pillow, rolling her eyes. "They had to be under someone's orders, y'know?" she mumbled. Finally, much to the other girls' relief, she started to fall asleep. They listened to her even breathing gratefully.

But Ariana shot up in bed, hitting her head on the low ceiling. "Ow, dammit!" she hissed under her breath. But as her head throbbed, she began to think. Chiho had just said something useful, whether she knew it or not.

**A/N: Welllllll? Watcha think? Is Chi an idiot or what? Ha ha. Anyway. Sorry I haven't been using the KH people much; I'm actually considering moving this to the "Uglies" section of Fanfic, if there even is one. :P BTW, NBB- 729 words! Yay me! I want the ALICIA book tomorrow, kay? I'm already a day late… -.-**


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